Angelique Maeng: Apollo's Lyre
by AngelEmpress97
Summary: Angelique was just a 13-year-old with an egotistical jerk stepdad and a stressed out fashion designer mom living in LA, California. Running away wasn't the best idea but at least she found out who her real dad is!– Apollo, god of the sun and the arts. Now her dad is angry because he thinks Hermes, god of thieves, has stolen his Lyre and now Angelique is told to find it or its war.
1. Chapter 1

Hi! I'm AngelEmpress97 and This is the first chapter of My Percy Jackson Fanfiction! All characters belong to me besides Mr. D, Percy Jackson, and Chiron as they are Rick Riordan's characters and not mine. However the rest are definitely mine.

This is the story of Angelique Maeng, daughter of Apollo and pretty freaking special if you ask me. She can heal people, sing, play a mean bass clarinet, and actually knows how to recite poetry, unlike her godly dad, Apollo. Along with love interest Camlo and new found friend Lillyan, Angelique has to do the impossible- travel all over the country to find her father's Lyre, which now has accused Hermes of stealing it. Like any other demigod story, monsters will be everywhere, but Angelique has only been a part of Camp Half-Blood for a few weeks and she still sucks at sword fighting. Will she prevail, or will she fall before she get's to the Lyre, allowing a war between the gods Apollo and Hermes?

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><p>I<p>

ANGELIQUE

It was the most awkward and unbelievable way to start things off, not to mention things were absolutely _nuts_ before Angelique even knew what was going on. She considered going back home, but that was _definitely _out of the question. It wasn't like her mom and stepdad would even care, anyway- too busy with their celebrity status' and reputations. Who would ever care about the daughter that had ADHD and dyslexia? Oh, that's right, no one.

"This is so _stupid_," was all she could say about the matter. She didn't even know where she was heading, let alone know what was chasing her. Oh, yeah- something was chasing her... A _big _something.

Angelique knew what it was, but for reasons unknown she couldn't quite remember. It was probably something she learned in a class, something like history or english. It was probably both, but she never payed attention for too long because, you know, ADHD? But that was besides the point. It was such a dumb idea to run away, honestly, she didn't know why she did it.

Thankfully, these three other kids came to her rescue. One boy was tall and well built with tanned if not dark skin, black, curly hair and dark brown, warm eyes. There was a girl with dirty blond hair up in a ponytail with piercing green eyes and bronze earrings. Another boy had grey eyes with blond, shaggy hair and a varsity jacket with the name _Mackleson_ on the back. They all wore orange shirts with greek letters that she for some reason recognized as _Camp Half-blood._ They had suddenly came to her rescue when the big huge monster thing had first attacked her.

The tanned boy's job was to distract the monster, so he lured it by talking to it which was kind of weird since he was talking to a monster. The other two didn't seem to mind it, so it must have been normal to them. The girl took to the trees and tried to find a weak spot anywhere, it seemed hard since the thing kept moving, and the other guy followed behind the monster, ready to stab it with his spear in hand.

"Any luck finding the weak spot?" The blond guy said keeping up.

"Was that a trick question? No! Every place we've tried hasn't worked! Well, maybe not the horns, but..." The girl in the trees shouted.

"Scream louder! Maybe it'll go deaf!" The tan one said.

"Shut up, pretty boy!" The girl in the trees said. The tanned boy just laughed which made the girl in the trees fume. It wasn't long before the monster decided it was enough chasing the tanned boy and started to chase after Angelique once again.

"Crap...!" She said as she started running again. "A little help maybe?!" She shouted trying to keep as far away from it as possible.

"Come on, Cam! Save the damsel! I thought you loved all the ladies!" The girl in the trees said.

"I got it!" The guy from behind announced as he jolted forward and stabbed at the thing's feet- or rather hooves. The monster got angry and started charging at him. He started leading it away. "Cam! Strike off its horn!"

"Are you _crazy?!_" The tanned one said. Angelique put two and two together and assumed his name was Cam.

"Just do it!" The guy now getting chased spat.

"Whatever the Athena's kid says!" Cam said as he ran behind the monster. He jumped up and thrashed his sword at the monsters right horn. The horn snapped and the monster disintegrated into dust.

Angelique stopped dead in her tracks. "What the _heck?!_" She couldn't quite find any other words to say. That monster just turned to dust from just its _horn_ being chopped off. What was left on the ground was the severed horn.

"That, lovely lady, was a minotaur. Half man and half bull." Cam said. "My name's Camlo by the way- Cam for short."

"Lillyan, Lil or Lilly for short. Don't call me by my real name." The girl from the trees said. She had jumped down from the tree she ended up in and now stood with Camlo and the other guy.

"My name's Jake, nice to meet you." He held out his hand and Angelique shook it. Jake's grip was strong. Must have been from fighting monsters like the bull- Minotaur- thing. Oh, yeah. She had read a section on greek myths in her english class. She actually almost felt bad for the thing when she read it's story, but then again it almost just tried to kill her.

"So what's your name, missy?" Lillyan asked putting her hands on her hips.

"Angelique Maeng" she said as she adjusted her backpack. Strapped to it was a bow and a quiver of arrows. She hadn't used them because she learned the hard way that her arrows didn't work on monsters and she was even told so. Lillyan had said something about celestial bronze, however Angelique was too busy running to multitask. What was celestial bronze anyway?

"We should start heading back to camp or Mr. D'll turn us into aquatic animals" Jake said strapping his spear to his back.

"It'll be a long flight to Long Island-"

"Whoa, _Long Island?! _As in, _New York?!" _Angelique interrupted Camlo.

"Oh, yeah. And on Pegasi, its not the most pleasant ride ever." Jake said.

"For you guys; I'll be flyin' these babies" Lillyan pointed to her shoes that when she tapped her foot on the ground little wings fluttered open.

"Today just keeps getting weirder and weirder..." Angelique muttered.

"Oh, you haven't seen anything, hun" camlo said with a smile.

"Dude, dont say that, its weird." Lillyan said.

"What is?"

"Calling people hun! Its weird, especially when you just met the person!" Camlo just shrugged as they walked to where their flying horses were tied to a tree. There were two, a black and a white, both male.

"Alright, Opal, can you carry two?" Camlo said to the white Pegasus. It whinnied as if it was whining. "Well, you're going to have to, buddy" he said hopping on. He patted behind himself. "Hop on, Angelique" he still had a smile. Oddly, Angelique had the urge to do as he said. Weird. She did anyway.

Oh, man, the flight was _rough._

They weren't kidding, but Angelique didn't feel like admitting it. She almost lost her lunch when opal decided it was a good idea to do a twirl-around. She had the feeling the flying horse didn't like her all that much. When they finally got to Long Island, they had landed in a field which, to the naked eye, looked like a regular field, but once they passed a huge pine tree, there was a camp with orange banners and cabins and... A huge barn-house with pillars?

"Welcome to camp Half-blood! Where everyone is half something- well besides..." Camlo said before a guy with a leopard print Bermuda shirt on came up. He honestly didn't look like he wanted to be there.

"Cameron, Layla, and John!" He hollered. "It took you long enough!" He scoffed.

"It's Camlo..."

"Lilly, Mr. D."

"...and it's Jake."

"Whatever! At least you got the girl-"

"Angelique."

"Yes, whatever- we have a little... Problem." Mr. D said quietly.

"Like what?" Lillyan said suspiciously as she put her fists to her hips.

"Like a _P _problem."

"A _what?"_ Camlo said confused.

"Prophecy? You know, the _big_ one?" He said even quieter.

"Oh, my gods..." Jake muttered.

"What's so bad about it?" Lillyan asked curiously.

"The bad thing... Well, we'll talk about it during the bonfire- which is in thirteen minutes so Lyla-"

"Lilly!"

"Whatever! Go get your cabin ready, Camlo, report to your cabin leader and Jake, go get your cabin ready as well. Angelica-"

"Angelique."

"Whatever. Follow lyla-"

"Lilly!" Lillyan shouted.

"Don't make me turn you into a dolphin!" Mr. D snapped. "You will be part of Hermes cabin until we figure out who your parent is. Now off with you all!" He stomped off.

Camlo waved goodbye to Angelique while Lillyan stomped off as well, leaving Angelique no choice but to follow. Jake left as well, but she didn't know if he had did any goodbyes; of course, they would see each other once again at that bonfire.

When they arrived at Hermes cabin, it looked like an ordinary cabin; however, it was very crowded inside, allowing only minimum wriggle room.

"This is Hermes cabin; we're all kids of Hermes- except you, at least we don't know yet, obviously." Lillyan said. "You're probably, like, Apollo, or maybe Aphrodite?" She shrugged. "We'll find out- hey! Brats and half siblings alike! Bonfire in ten!" She shouted. It spread across the cabin in the little room that seemed to be there. "Also, meet Angelique, she's temporary, but its pretty safe to say that she'll be someone else's problem after the bonfire! Now lets go! Nine minutes!"

When the bonfire came, Angelique had been given a set of orange camp t-shirts that, for some reason, she wanted to make them unique to her. She'd do it when the bonfire was over. After Mr. D introduced her- pronouncing her entire name wrong (the last name she understood, its Korean and everyone go it wrong, but her first name was pushing it), they sang songs that made the fire grow and reach high up in the sky. She joined into the fun when they had asked her to but she sat down when she didn't feel comfortable. Around the end, the fire lowered and Mr. D stood up, a centaur standing beside him.

"Now, as most of you know, the new big prophecy had been told. And apparently it all pertains to the new girl, Angelo" Mr. D said.

"Angelique!" She corrected.

"Whatever! It does not say specifically who else is in the new Great Prophecy, but it most definitely includes you- and hopefully we find out who your godly parent is before this is all over."

"Its actually quite surprising, actually. Usually the gods claim their child by your age-"

"Which was made possible because of Percy Jackson!" Lillyan pointed out, interrupting the centaur. Angelique looked at her surprised.

"... Yes. However, yours hasn't yet." He continued.

"It should be any minute now, right? Cause Hermes cabin can't hold anymore campers!" Lillyan said concerned. As if on cue, a symbol began to shape above Angelique's head. It took form of a lyre which meant nothing to her, but apparently everyone else knew.

"I'm guessing a god just claimed me?" Angelique stated pointing to the lyre. Jake grimaced.

"Apollo..." Camlo whispered quietly. His eyes were surprised.

"Hail, Angelique Maeng," the centaur announced. "Daughter of Apollo, god of the sun and the arts."


	2. Chapter 2

Hi its AngelEmpress97 again! It's been a while, but it's finally finished! The second chapter is finally here! In this one we jump straight into the action, meeting some good old characters like Nico di Angelo and Will Solace! Angelique has been adjusting well in Camp Halfblood, but it's short-lived when she's been given a quest to find Apollo's Lyre. She's been given dreams by the gods and fears at what might happen, will they come true? I sure hope not.

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><p>II<p>

ANGELIQUE

Okay, maybe it didn't seem so great being an Apollo kid. It didn't come as a surprise to her that she was, since she was amazing at playing bass clarinet, her voice was apparently beautiful to people, and she was awesome at bowmanship, which she even knew Apollo was known for his arrow shooting. Angelique had asked Jake why he looked so disgusted when he heard the sun god's name. He told her that he had met Apollo and he told the worst poems ever, which seemed ironic because Apollo was the god of the arts, poetry being an art form. That wasn't the only bad part. She felt embarrassed that Apollo was her father and angry that he never even talked to her, not to mention that she wasn't even claimed until last night's bonfire, which apparently every demigod was claimed at thirteen. She was almost fourteen in July and he just now claimed her?

Wait, why was she getting so worked up about it? As far as she remembered, she didn't even care yesterday morning; she just wanted to get away from her mom and stepdad, which she kind of did- she honestly didn't know if being a demigod and staying at Camp Halfblood was much better, but she guessed it was better than nothing. Cabin seven, or the Apollo cabin, was nice- at first glance it's a normal cabin, but when the light hit it, it looked like pure gold. It was bright, filled with nice art and bookshelves with the classics (that she would never touch, but it was nice to see them in the god of the arts' cabin) and last but certainly not least, the instruments. Man was she in love with the instruments. They might have been old and greek, but they were in tip-top shape and that pleased her very much.

"Nice to see a new camper getting up on time– mostly they try to get away with sleeping in." The cabin leader, Will Solace, explained to her.

"I always get up this early in Cali" Angelique stated.

"Oh! So you're from California? No wonder!" He said. "Must be why dad picked your mom– that state's all about the sun!"

"Well, my mom was all about the sun– she said she got her inspiration from it." Angelique said making her bed look tidy. She picked up a necklace with a sun pendant hung on it and tied it around her neck.

"What'd she do?" He asked.

Angelique grimaced. "She's a fashion designer." She didn't expect anyone but maybe a few girls to know her, but her step dad was a different story. He was famous for his acting, and man did he like to flaunt it everywhere. Egotistical jerk.

"Must be why you customized your camp shirts?" He guessed. Angelique nodded, a little embarrassed. "Well, it's time to eat– alright, cabin seven! To the eating pavilion!"

She had learned a lot about camp halfblood just in that one morning alone than last night. She caught on quickly that burnt offerings are given at every meal to a god or goddess of choice, but she learned the most at the Apollo table from stories and other things. It seemed like each group of demigods sat at their own tables– Athena, Aphrodite, Hermes, even the satyrs sat together. At the very front of the pavilion was the tables for the camp activities director (which she later found out was Chiron, the famous trainer of all heroes, including this guy named Percy Jackson which she couldn't go anywhere without someone talking about him) and the camp director Mr. D who she found out was a god sent to camp halfblood for punishment from his father, Zeus, which Angelique would have to look that story up somewhere later.

After breakfast, the schedule was packed– however there were two free hours for arts and crafts and whatever you wanted. Before sword training and the like, Jake had shown her where they kept the armor and weapons. She took a sword of good length for her and was later given a bracelet from Chiron who told her it was from her father and it turned into a bow. He also gave her a quiver with a dozen bronze-tipped arrows that magically came back to the quiver after a certain amount of time (two minutes, but that didn't seem too bad).

She was absolutely horrible at sword fighting. She eventually admitted that she'd rather shoot arrows than fight with a sword, but she sucked it up and told herself that she just needed a lot of practice. Will gave her a tour of the camp– the Athena Parthenos, Thalia's tree with the golden fleece, the forge, strawberry fields, the forest where they played capture the flag, the arena, the amphitheater and so many other places that she didn't even know camps would have; and then there was the Big House which is what they called the big, blue barnhouse. It was where the infirmary was, and apparently the only times she would typically be there is if she got hurt or she was in big trouble. She was definitely only looking forward to seeing the infirmary.

It made sense that there weren't many kids of the big three, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. There kids were probably very powerful, and from what she heard from the campers, bad things happened to the camp– specifically Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon. Two wars took place in one year when he was there– the great prophecy then, and the Prophecy of seven both happened right after each other, both including Percy in it along with two other kids of Zeus, and two (or three, depending on where she heard it) kids of Hades. Apparently, Thalia, who was a daughter of Zeus, had joined the hunt, which no one bothered to tell her what that was, ending with her confusion. At that point she was almost happy to be a child of another Olympian that wasn't one of the big three. Too much drama.

Days passed that summer; it was peaceful and filled with epic chariot races and capture the flag games (which Angelique was happy to have at least won one game with Apollo's cabin, even if it was only one). She met Nico di Angelo, a son of Hades, who after they met would tell stories of his adventures with Percy and the others; one of her favorites was during the prophecy of seven when he went with Reyna and Coach hedge to deliver the Athena Parthenos to Camp Halfblood to stop the war. She loved her time at Camp Halfblood, until, who would have guessed, a _quest._

"Can I just ask what a quest is?" Angelique asked Matt, one of her cabin mates, half-siblings- whatever.

"A quest is a kind of mission– kinda– to prove worth and it's dangerous most of the time, if not all of the time." Angelique seemed worried which Matt caught on to that. "Don't worry, you're new so it probably won't be you"

"Unless it relates to the Great Prophecy, then it's _definitely_ you." Lillyan interjected. Angelique got nervous. She had gotten a dream that night. She had seen a Lyre being stolen and she had a sinking feeling it was her dad's. It then shifted to herself at the edge of the grand canyon while a horde of monsters stood before her. She had heard her dad telling her _get my lyre back from your friend before war begins between me and her father and before I put a plague on his children!_ She knew who he was talking about and she was afraid what would happen if she didn't.

"Hey, don't be scaring my cabin mate." Matt said.

"You mean your half sister? Don't tell me you're trying to play the big brother here, again." Lillyan said.

"What– no! Lilly, why would you think that?" Matt said.

"Because we all know what happened to your– sorry." Lillyan said shutting her mouth.

"You have a _horrible_ habit of talking too much." Matt said firmly.

Angelique kept her mouth shut. She didn't need to be a child of Athena to know it wasn't wise to pry. Before they could continue being bitter at each other, Mr. D and Chiron stood before the demigods at the amphitheater. Chiron had his hands folded behind his back ready to announce the task at hand. Angelique nervously anticipated her own name as she remembered her dream.

"Good evening, everyone!" Chiron began. "As you all know, a new great prophecy has been told by our Oracle, Rachel Elizabeth Dare. While we don't know the entire meaning of it yet, we do know that something has been stolen– Apollo's Lyre, and it is suspected that Hermes has stolen it, or rather one of his kids"

"What?" Angelique whispered to Matt.

"Gods can't take other god's things, so its gotta be a kid" Matt said. "I can't believe anyone would want to steal dad's lyre... Everyone knows its war if someone does- if any of his stuff gets stolen, honestly."

Angelique was concerned. She knew Lillyan wouldn't do that, but her dad was still accusing her? It didn't seem right.

"We will be sending a hero to find the lyre by the seventh of next month" Mr. D said.

"So two weeks from now... On Apollo's sacred day..." Matt said.

"Seems like him..." Jake said sitting beside Lillyan.

"We don't actually know the location of the lyre, however the hero we will send will inevitably speed the process" Chiron said. "That hero being Angelique Maeng."

"Well, there goes my promise..." Matt muttered.

"At least you didn't promise on the river Styx, right?" Camlo said.

"Are you up for the task, Angelique?" Chiron asked the daughter of Apollo.

Angelique looked around to Will, to Matt, to her friends. They nodded, telling her that she should do it. She figured she had no choice. She looked to Chiron.

"Yes." She answered.

"Now, you are also allowed to take two others with you as well on this quest, but you don't necessarily have to. You can also choose more than three, however that is very dangerous, would you like anyone else to go along with you?" Chiron asked.

She thought for a moment. She'd have to choose wisely, but she definitely didn't want to go alone. She looked at her friends, and she knew who she had to take.

"I choose Lilly and Cam." Angelique said.

"Alright then," Chiron said as he started to trot away. "It's concluded- Angelique, Camlo and Lillyan will go and find Apollo's lyre and bring it back to Olympus!" He turned around toward Angelique. "You'll be leaving tomorrow morning, after speaking to Rachel."

That night, Angelique couldn't sleep. She didn't know what to think. What would this quest bring? She knew that she had to do it; Apollo's Lyre had been stolen by someone, most like a camp mate, but she just couldn't understand why anyone would. If she remembered correctly from English class, Hermes once stole Apollo's sheep, or maybe it was a cow- whatever, it was an animal that Apollo owned. When Hermes had taken it, Apollo was angry and chased him down, but before Apollo caught him, Hermes invented the lyre and gave it to Apollo as a gift, appeasing Apollo's anger. If Hermes had made it for Apollo for something else he had done to the sun god, why would any of the Hermes kids want to steal the gift that their father made for Apollo? It made no sense, all except for maybe a kid wanting something like war between the two, but why would anyone want that?

When she finally fell asleep, she had a dream. It began pretty normal, as far as demigod dreams went. She was sitting with Will, Nico, Matt, Camlo and Lillyan, watching a chariot race between the Ares cabin and the Athena cabin. the Ares kids were ruthless, while the Athena kids outwitted them. They were having fun watching the two rivaled cabins crash into each other with their chariots, but just as the third lap ended, Angelique stopped cheering when she saw a man standing across the way. He stood against the wall by the finish line, she turned to her friends to ask if they saw him, but they weren't there anymore. There wasn't anyone in the stands anymore. She looked back to where the man was; he was still there, looking at her.

She made her way down to the track, but when she reached it, it wasn't the track anymore. She wasn't even at Camp Halfblood, or even on Long Island. She was close to falling off the edge of the grand canyon. Moments after she realized where she was, she started to hear whispers from below.

Then, she woke up.


	3. Chapter 3

Well, if it isn't another update! I can't believe I got this one done in a day, I feel so accomplished! So, chapter three is the day the gang goes on their quest to find the stolen Lyre! The prophecy for the quest is revealed. Nico di Angelo and Will Solace has left to find another demigod who might possibly be another child of Hades...? Will he or she be a child of Hades? Who knows!

Sorry for the cliff hanger, but I'm trying to limit to three and a half pages (around 1000 to 2000 words) so stay tuned! Also please give me some feed back! I would love to hear how I could make this series better! thanks! ~AngelEmpress97

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><p>III<p>

ANGELIQUE

She honestly didn't expect Will to be standing above her. She didn't even know it was Will until she rolled off her bed. Did she sleep in? She's never done that before.

She looked at Will solace. She hadn't noticed, but he was tan, like, really tan. It was as if he'd spent the majority of the summer out on the canoes and surfing on the California beaches. She loved the beaches back home. One day she'd spent the entire day bathing in the sun- her mind got off track.

"Hey, Will. Am I late?" Angelique asked her cabin leader.

"No, no! It's not that. You muttered something in your sleep and I was trying to figure out what you were saying." Will said with a smile. "Anyway, I suppose I should tell you that Nico and I will be going off on a search mission. There's another demigod wandering around somewhere in Iowa. Nico thinks it's another child of Hades, but we'll find out if he's right or not."

"Oh, I hope you find him… her, whatever." Angelique said.

"You sure like that word." Will said as he started walking out of the cabin.

"What?"

"'Whatever'. You say that word a _lot_." Will said, shutting the door behind him. Shortly after, he opened it again. "By the way, before you leave, I have something for you, so don't you leave without seeing me first!" He said, then he left.

After breakfast in the eating pavilion and talking with the Oracle, Rachel, Angelique tied her long, wavy, brunette hair in a ponytail and packed her backpack- essential stuff. Chiron had always told her to pack only what you need, and, since it was going to be a long journey, it's better to pack only the essentials since it was lighter. It wasn't long until Chiron came over to Angelique to tell her that they should leave.

"Oh! I have to talk to Will first, he said he wanted to give me something before we left." Angelique said.

"You should leave right after, then. There's no use in delaying." Chiron said before he trotted away.

Angelique quickly grabbed her sweatshirt and ran for the Infirmary, as that was the most likely place that her cabin leader would be at. Just as she suspected, Will Solace was packing a bag of ambrosia and an extra med kit, just in case. _Nico di Angelo always did have a reckless streak_, Will had once told her. It seemed likely he'd get into a lot of trouble between the seven years that Will and Nico were friends (honestly, she thought they might be more than that, but she didn't want to ask).

"Will! I'm about to leave, whatever you're going to give me, give it quick Chiron wants us to leave soon-!" before she could continue, Will had thrown her a pan flute. There were markings on it depicting everything that Apollo was about, much like her bracelet. "It's a pan flute." She looked at Will confused.

"Not just _any_ pan flute, one of dad's pan flutes. He told me to give it to you- said something about being able to help you out on your quest." Will said.

"Great." Angelique said unintentionally putting too much sarcasm into her voice. "That it?"

"No, I also wanted to warn you."

"What?"

"Since it's your first quest, it's going to be... hectic." Will said. Angelique gave him a look as if to say _really?_ "Now, hear me out. Dad can be pretty brutal when it comes to his things getting stolen, and since Lil is a daughter of Hermes…"

"...He's going to target her." Angelique said. She had just realized, if Apollo really was accusing Lillyan for his stolen Lyre, she'd be targeted with a lot of things, like some kind of sickness or maybe agony by Haiku.

"That's exactly right, just… just look after your friends, okay? You can do a lot of things as a kid of Apollo, but Apollo can do a lot more." Will said. "That's about it, now go on and find dad's lyre, you don't have much time."

"Thanks, Will." Angelique said as she ran out, she passed Nico on her way out. She waved at him as she ran, but she didn't have much time to look back to see if he waved back. She faintly heard Nico say _What was that about?_

She headed for Thalia's tree.

She passed other kids,- Piper McLean, Camlo's cabin leader, Matt who was heading to the docks, and twelve-year-old Mandy Kent, who hadn't been claimed yet- making sure to avoid Clarisse La Rue in the process. The daughter of Ares had almost dunked her head into the toilet on the second day of her days at camp, but Angelique was too quick from her taekwondo lessons (A request by her mother) and quickly put Clarisse off balance and allowing the Ares kid to dunk her own head into the same toilet. It was a quick reflex, nothing unusual, but she quickly apologized as she ran out of the washrooms and back to cabin seven. She wasn't mean enough to do that stuff on purpose, it just happened.

When she reached the pine tree at the edge of camp, she saw Camlo and Lillyan by two pegasi waiting for her with their bags. On Camlo's right ring finger was his celestial bronze ring that said _Loveless_ in greek. On Lillyan's belt were her daggers and her unused short sword. She was tapping her foot as she looked at her pocket watch.

"Well, you're not _late_, but, like my mom used to say, 'being early is on time, being on time is late'," she said, closing her pocket watch and sticking it in her pocket.

"I had to talk to Will. He needed to give me something." Angelique said. She held up the pan flute.

"A pan flute, are you kidding?" Lillyan said.

"Apparently my dad gave this to him to give to me. He said it might help" Angelique said as she strapped it securely into her backpack.

"Yeah, by making us deaf!" Lillyan said crossing her arms. "Why does Mr. Sunshine think it's going to help us find his stupid-!"

"I would stop there, Lilly." Angelique said putting up her hand. Lillyan shot her a glare. "Hey, if you want to get the plague, go right on ahead, or maybe you want to get cursed with saying rhymes for the rest of your life?"

Lillyan rolled her eyes and kicked her heels commanding the wings on them to flutter open. She started ascending.

"Man, no one has ever talked back to Lil, I mean, she's like the Hermes version of Clarisse sometimes." Camlo said. "Wonder why we're friends with her?" He asked as he started to mount the white pegasi named Opal. She hadn't noticed before, but half of the Pegasus' legs were black.

"I heard that, pretty boy!" Lillyan shouted angrily.

"I know! You were supposed to!" Camlo shouted back. "Come on, sunshine, lets go."

Angelique was familiar with the new nickname, "sunshine"; it was a good change from "Asian freakazoid". It was less against her Korean roots; it fit too, now that she knew she was a kid of Apollo. She mounted the black Pegasus and they both took off.

"So, where should we start looking first?" Angelique asked her friends loud enough so they could hear her.

"Dunno, you're the leader of this mission. What was the prophecy Dare gave you, anyway?" Lillyan asked as they kept flying.

Angelique had totally forgotten about telling them about the prophecy that their Oracle had given her. There was no better time than now, so she recited the prophecy as they continued to ride off to their destination- whatever it may be.

"_Across to the west is where you will look,_

_play the song, find what your friend took._

_the muses to guide, to risk what means most,_

_return the lyre, with the child of ghosts._"

"Well, we know which direction we're going." Camlo shouted. "We go west."

"We'd be going as far as California! We can't possibly search the entire state!" Lillyan shouted concerned.

"We have to try, we can't risk war." Angelique shouted. "We only have two weeks."

"I didn't steal it, you know." Lillyan said loudly.

"I know, that's another thing. We have to prove you're innocent." Angelique said. She wasn't going to let her dad accuse her friend of a crime she never committed.

"I wonder what the prophecy means by 'return the lyre, with the child of ghosts'? I mean, it can't be talking about Nico." Camlo said, getting closer to the two girls.

"Maybe it means we need to get di Angelo home safely, I mean, Solace keeps saying he's prone accidents and overworking his underworld-y powers." Lillyan said. "It's possible."

They flew in silence for a couple hours. Before they knew it, they reached Los Angeles, the one place she didn't want to be at ever again. The pegasi landed at the edge of the city where no mortals could see them. Camlo tied their reins to a tree so they could get back home on them. Angelique paced around, thinking of where the lyre could have been hidden. She couldn't think of anywhere in Los Angeles that could harbor the instrument. _Across to the west is where you will look…_ Anywhere west of Long Island, that spans the entire country, but _across_ might be different. California, Nevada… anywhere on the edge of the west coast. That just barely shortens up their choices. They still had a lot of places to look.

"Lets try looking at musical places, like…" Lillyan began as she thought.

"Like the Greek theatre?" Angelique suggested.

"There's a place called that?" Camlo asked.

Angelique nodded. "I've been there before. It was a concert my mom and stepdad put together. I played Andante and Bouree by Handel. It might be there, I don't know." She honestly didn't know if the lyre would be there or not, but it was worth a shot and she kind of liked the idea of going back there. She liked that place, it was nice.

They started their trek over to the Greek Theatre. She told them it was right next to a golf course which her stepdad loved to go to in his free time, so she suggested sneaking past the course so that she didn't have to risk getting caught by him. She never liked her stepdad, he was a snob and blamed her for everything; he also smelt like rank cologne that apparently was the "Best on the line". Gross.

When they reached the amphitheatre, they looked around, under rocks, behind chairs, even under the stage, but no luck. It had nothing. They kept searching. Every inch of the LA area was searched; they left no stone unturned. There was nothing in LA, and Angelique doubted there would be anything else in California.

"Where else can we look in LA that would have the Lyre? I mean, seriously, where in _Hades_ will we find that sacred instrument?" Camlo said.

"We just need to keep looking. It's only been a day, two if we count yesterday." Angelique said. "We may only have two weeks, but we just started, we can't give up."

"Then where are we looking next, sunshine?" Lillyan asked.

"Maybe-!" Angelique stopped, mid sentence.

"Holy Hera…!" Camlo said quietly.

Lillyan took out a dagger from her belt. "_It just had to be Hellhounds._"


	4. Chapter 4

Hi again! Another update! And this time in Camlo's POV! I didn't know if you've noticed, but it's laid out like the Heroes of Olympus!

Alright, so it starts right back where we left off in the last chapter: The gang is attacked by an army of Hellhounds! Now, with Cam's point of view, we look into the mind of the goof. He's got some strong feelings going on, so strong he can't think straight! Something else is revealed between Lillyan and Camlo, and the daughter of Hermes gets angry and leaves for their next destination without the other two, what's going to happen? Let's find out! (In the next chapter)

by the way, I don't own Nico di Angelo, Percy Jackson, Piper, or the rest of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians/Heroes of Olympus gang. I just own Matt, Angelique, Lillyan, Camlo, Mandy, and the mysterious demigod who Nico and Will are going to go get. ~AngelEmpress97

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><p>IV<p>

CAMLO

Oh, boy. How should he say this?

Hellhounds were _rough_.

That was a good pun, he'd use that one later after they beat them, but, for now, he had to keep those mutts from biting his head off- or any limb for that matter. He slashed at one in the chest; it instantly disintegrated into dust. On to the next one… and the next, and the next, and… It was going to be a long night.

"Why are there so many of them?!" Angelique asked as she shot another one of her arrows between a Hellhound's eyes. Man, was her voice pretty. Even when she wasn't singing, her voice just made his heart _melt_.

Wait, what was he doing; he had to pay attention to the fight, not to his- too late, one of the hounds pounced on him. Gods, was he really this stupid? No, he could come to a stalemate when it came to sword fighting with Nico di Angelo, and that son of Hades was really good, like, _insanely_ good, he could barely keep up most of the time, but he still could so that couldn't be it. The Hellhound tried to bite him, but he stabbed his sword into the thing's neck and it vanished just like the rest of the hounds he killed.

"Get yourself together, pretty boy! I know you're not just good looks!" Lillyan shouted as she threw another one of her daggers.

"Behind you!" Angelique shouted as she shot an arrow past Camlo's head. Holy Hera, fierce and pretty? What more could a guy want?

Oh, gods, there he went again. What was with him? Ever since Angelique arrived at camp, all Camlo could do was think about her. He'd listen to her sing during the bonfires, he'd watch her shoot her bow, and, even though she wasn't very good, he'd watch her sword fight with Will Solace while he'd spar with Nico di Angelo (which often led to his butt getting kicked and later a speech from Nico: _Get your act together! You can't get distracted by emotions like that!_).

At one point, Camlo had asked Piper McLean, his cabin counselor, about it- well, not directly talking about _her_, but about how love really felt. She found it so quickly with Jason Grace, that Jupiter kid, and, man, was she pretty good at this love thing. She said _Love is really weird, sometimes awkward, but always weird. If mom starts talking to you about it, don't listen to her, though, she doesn't know what she's talking about. By the way, I know who you've been crushing on lately. I believe it's a certain Apollo girl?_ Piper always teased him about his little crushes, but this wasn't any normal crush and Piper apparently picked up on it.

Nico once told him about his experience with Eros; he said it hurt, like, a lot, but once he accepted and got over his first ever crush (Which he later found out it was _the_ Percy Jackson), it didn't hurt so much. He sure hoped he didn't meet Eros along the way, that would hurt, and _bad_.

He kept fighting until he was caught off guard thinking of one of his other talks with Nico when they'd talked about the "love" subject. His sword, _Loveless_, went flying out of his hand and turned back into his bronze ring. He scrambled to get it back.

"Cam, watch out!" Lillyan shouted.

He quickly put the ring on and thrashed his sword behind him. It hit a Hellhound as it turned to dust. He lost his balance and fell on his rear end. He exhaled loudly.

"Cam, what in Hades are you _doing_?!" Angelique said concerned. "You're going to get yourself killed!" She shot another one of her arrows.

"Sorry!" He shouted as he got up and slashed at the next Hellhound that went after him. _Come on, Cam! Get yourself together! You can't let those feelings get to you!_ He said to himself in his head. He struck at another hound.

Finally, all the Hellhounds were turned to dust. Angelique sat on the ground, trying to catch her breath. She may have been using her bow, but she spent most of the time running away from them. Camlo felt bad for her. She'd only started training a few days ago; he and Lillyan had been training for _years._ She had scratches on her face.

"Wow, Hellhounds are _Rough,_ Ha, get it? Rough?-Oh, my gods- that looks bad." Camlo said as he knelt down taking off his backpack. He noticed the deep gash on Angelique's left calf. He opened up his bag and took out a med kit. "Here, let me help you." He said as he took a rag and wet it with his water bottle.

"You and your puns…" Lillyan said putting her hand on her forehead.

"Cam, you don't have to-!"

"No, no. Just let me help, okay?" Camlo said calmly. Oh, gods, this was the most he'd said to her in days. He was surprised he was calm enough to speak. The past few days he'd been pretty silent, cracking the good old "Camlo humor" when it called for it, but fairly quiet.

He cleaned her wound then dressed it. Afterwards, he took out a piece of ambrosia and gave it to her.

"Here." Camlo said holding it out.

"T-Thanks…" Angelique said taking the ambrosia. She ate it.

Camlo had no idea what it could have tasted to her, but if it was him, he would have tasted his dad's rhubarb pie. He supposed she would have tasted something her mother made, or something she had when she lived in LA.

"Well, well, well. Looks like pretty boy is at it, again." Lillyan said putting her hands on her hips. Camlo froze. "Courting yet _another_ young lady."

_Crap, she knows,_ Camlo thought to himself. Of course she knew, Lillyan had known him for three years, which was long enough to know his tendencies. She was also a fast learner and was in the process of finishing up figuring out Angelique.

"Are you still mad?" Camlo said, trying to keep his cool.

"About what- _Hades, no!_" She screamed. "And we _agreed_ never to talk about it again, _Camlo Loiza Loveridge._" Well, now she really was angry. It didn't take three years to know that Lillyan went to using full names when she was angry, however it _does_ take three years to figure out Camlo's middle name. He always knew Loiza was kind of girly.

"I think you are." Camlo said. Probably a stupid idea, but Camlo was full of stupid of ideas. "You used my middle name."

"Well, I'm angry _now!_ but not because of _that!_" Lillyan shouted again.

"What, did you guys date or something?" Angelique asked, after she finished the ambrosia.

"Is it really that obvious?" Camlo asked jokingly.

"Well, if you hadn't _said_ anything!" Lillyan shouted.

"Hey, hey! You had your little hissy fit! Now quiet down, or you'll attract more monsters!" Camlo whispered angrily.

"So, you did date?" Angelique said, shaking her arm, turning her bow back into her bracelet.

Camlo laughed. "Yeah, once." He said. He took a stick and drew a heart in the dirt. He then wrote a _C_ at the top left, an _L_ on the right, and a _J_ at the bottom. "You see, I had a crush on her once-!"

"Not this again!" Lillyan groaned.

"-When I first came here, I saw her and I thought, 'Jesus, she's pretty', so I asked her out." Camlo continued, ignoring Lillyan. "Fortuna, the goddess of luck, must have been on my side, because she said yes."

"Only cause I felt bad for you!" Lillyan argued.

"Keep telling yourself that!" Camlo said. He drew a line towards the _L_ from the _C._ "Anyway, we started dating, and then I was claimed by my mom, Aphrodite." He drew an _X_ between the _J_ and the _C_. "Being that Jake was friends with her way before I came here, and him being a kid of Athena, he didn't like the idea of me dating his 'best friend', so Lilly started to doubt me and my loyalty- from past children of Aphrodite, we have a history of breaking hearts- so, days went on, and Lil said that she kept seeing me look at all the other girls, so we broke up. End of story." Camlo said as he drew an _X_ on the line between the _L_ and the _C_. "Then she started liking Jake" Camlo whispered to Angelique.

"I do not!" Lillyan said, flustered.

"Keep telling yourself that, sweet cheeks!" Camlo teased.

"_don't call me that!_" Lillyan hissed.

"Whatever you say." Camlo said in a playful tone. He turned to Angelique. "Can you get up?" He asked.

She nodded. "I think so." She said as she slowly got up. "I'll probably have a limp for a few more hours, but with my fast healing from my dad, I think I'll be okay."

"Sure hope so." Lillyan said, crossing her arms. "You are leading this quest, remember?"

"Don't be so insensitive, Lil." Camlo said, annoyed. "She's injured."

"Whatever," Lillyan said. "Where are we going next, then?"

"I say Hollywood." Angelique said.

"Let's go then." Lillyan said kicking her heels. The wings on her shoes fluttered open and she took off.

Camlo didn't know what was going on with Lillyan. She'd never acted this way before when he teased her about their past relationship. Maybe it was because of the whole "Lyre" thing? He honestly didn't know; what he did know was that his jokes and puns weren't going to fix it, he didn't even know if it worked in the first place.

"Come on, lets go get Opal and Blackjack." Camlo said to Angelique as he started to go in the direction of where the Pegasi were.

"Wait- that's what that black horse's name is?" Camlo heard Angelique say behind him. Good, she was following him.

When they got there, both Pegasi were still there. Good. His luck wasn't running out yet.

"Cam, wait!" He heard Angelique say. He turned around to her before he untied the reins.

"What is it?" Camlo asked.

"What's going on with Lilly? I've never seen her this angry before." Angelique said.

"I honestly don't know, but it can't be because I told you about us dating at one point- I've done it before and she's never gotten this angry." Camlo said. He turned back to the Pegasi.

"Do you still like her- like, _like_, like her?" Angelique asked.

Wishful thinking, but was she saying that because she had feelings for him? Probably not.

He turned back to Angelique. "Ah, no. Not anymore." He said. "We're just friends. She has feelings for Jake, like I told you; of course, she won't admit it, but she does. I like someone else, to be honest." He blushed. subtle hint, but it was all he could say. He wasn't ready to hurt someone else, not if his feelings really wasn't _real_ love.

Thankfully, Angelique stopped asking questions. She sure was considerate for others. Another one of her many aspects that he enjoyed. He unhooked the reins and handed Blackjack's to Angelique.

"Let's go, she's probably already there." Camlo said as he mounted Opal.


	5. Chapter 5

Hi again! Another chapter! I thought I wasn't going to get it out today, but I did!

We're back with Angelique's POV, and this one's a lot more mellow. Lillyan's still away from the team and Camlo and Angelique have to camp out for the night. Just as she figured, Angelique gets another famous demigod dream and it confirms Nico's suspicions. Now the three demigods still have to figure out the rest of the prophecy and find the Lyre, which isn't so easy when all three demigods have ADHD. What will they figure out? Let's find out!

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><p>V<p>

ANGELIQUE

"Cam! Why don't we camp out for now? We won't get there any faster if we tire out our transportation." Angelique shouted to Camlo. She tried to lighten the mood; honestly, she didn't think she was very good at it and wondered why she even tried.

"Yeah- Yeah, that's a good idea." Camlo said.

Neither Camlo nor Lillyan were acting right- Lillyan more than Camlo. She'd only known them for about a week or two, but she knew enough that they weren't acting right… Or maybe they were acting right and Angelique knew nothing about them at all. Maybe they were just pretending to be that way to trick her- Oh, great. Now she was over-thinking things again.

She was fully aware that her friends weren't lying about their personalities and they were actually acting off from what they normally acted as. She didn't know why she even thought of whatever kind of excuse that was.

The two landed where they couldn't see any humans. Camlo once again tied the two Pegasi, Opal and Blackjack, to a tree stump so they didn't fly off. They needed them and they both knew that. Angelique set her backpack down by where she planned to set up and sat down. Her leg was still throbbing from that gash she had from that stupid Helldog- Hellhound- whatever. It wasn't as bad as it was, but it still hurt.

Angelique sighed. She just had to know. "Are you absolutely sure you don't still have feelings for Lilly?" Angelique asked Camlo. She wasn't convinced. Camlo was hiding something, and his answer before didn't make things any better. His face had turned red when he answered, indicating embarrassment… Did she really just use that big word? She was just so confused.

"Yes, I'm sure." Camlo said unpacking his sleeping bag. "We're just friends."

For Zeus' sake, Angelique didn't know whether to believe him or not. She wanted to, really, she did. She didn't want to admit it, but she kind of had a crush on him since day one. Maybe it was because he was a kid of Aphrodite that he was so attractive; yeah, that's probably it. She was only attracted to him because he was the kid of that really pretty goddess of love who was absolutely beautiful to anyone (as Piper McLean had told her. Even she saw her beauty).

Gods, her and her excuses.

She wanted to ask him who the person he liked was, she really, really did, but, because she was taught better, she didn't. _You should never pry, even if you really want to know,_ is what her mother would tell her, back when she actually _listened_ to her mom. The lack of information was eating away at her insides… Was this Jealousy? Envy? When did her life turn into a crappy _Twilight_ movie?

Angelique unpacked her sleeping bag and laid it by her backpack. She sat on it, pulled her knees to her chest and took hold of her sun pendant. She glanced over to Camlo who was watching her.

"Is that something special to you?" He asked pointing to the pendant.

Angelique shrugged. "I've had it since I was little. I don't remember who gave it to me, but I've worn it ever since." Angelique said, rubbing her thumb on the back of the pendant. She looked down at it. Why did she wear it? It's not like anyone told her to, right? Or is it the exact opposite but she just can't remember? Why would she remember someone telling her to wear it if she couldn't even remember who they were- he was distracting her.

"We should sleep." Angelique said as she unzipped her sleeping bag and jumped in. She closed her eyes, knowing full well that she'd get one of those famous demigod future dreams or whatever they were called.

In fact, she did.

She stood in the middle of a city she didn't know. The place was empty- all except for the vacant cars parked on the side of the streets. She wandered for a while, having nothing else to do, until she spotted two familiar demigods.

Nico di Angelo and Will Solace were running down the empty streets along with a young girl at about eleven-years-old. She had dark hair, just like Nico, chestnut-colored eyes, and wore a loose, black and white, knitted sweater. That must have been the demigod Nico and Will were sent to get, but what were they running from?

She looked behind them to see a menacing three-headed lizard monster. Well, there was her answer. She wondered why Nico hadn't slashed at its heads yet. Then she realized what the monster was- a Hydra, that one dragon, lizard thing that if you cut off one head, two more come back out from the stump and the only way to really beat it is if you used Medusa's head to turn it to stone, unless you wanted to burn the stumps before they grew back. It didn't seem like any of them had any sort of fire making thing, so, unless they were Leo Valdez, that was totally out of the question. Nico was a lot smarter than Will led on, or maybe he just learned from his mistakes.

She ran after Nico, Will, and the girl they were trying to rescue. She knew she wouldn't be able to talk to them, but she could at least listen to what they were saying.

"For the gods' sake, Nico! Why did you even _think _about provoking it?" Will shouted as they ran.

"I get it, Solace! I messed up again!" Nico shouted annoyed.

"M-Mr. di Angelo? What is that thing?" the girl asked. She looked so scared.

"Don't worry about it, Alex. Just don't think about it-!" Nico stopped in mid sentence as a huge crack in the asphalt began to form underneath the Hydra. The crack grew bigger, the girl named Alex became more scared, then the overgrown lizard dropped down into the center of the earth. Nico, Will, and Alex stopped to look at the crevice that had appeared. Will stared at Nico with disapproval. Nico looked at Will.

"That wasn't me." Nico said pointing to the huge gaping hole with an angry, three-headed lizard at the bottom. He was just as astonished as Alex.

"Then who was it, Nico? You're the only one who-!" Will stopped before he could finish. He looked at Alex, then back at Nico di Angelo. "Oh, my gods… You were right."

Then she woke up again. She was greeted with Camlo over top of her with a smile.

"Morning, sunshine!" Camlo said putting his hands on his hips. "Ready to go?" He asked.

"I just opened my eyes, of course I'm not ready." She said getting up. Her hair was a mess.

She got out of the sleeping bag and began to roll it up to pack it back in her bag again.

"Lil sent me an Iris message saying she's there and already started searching. So far nothing yet." Camlo said, grabbing his backpack. "So, how was your dream?" He asked.

"I think I know who the 'child of ghosts' is in the prophecy." Angelique said. Camlo looked at her in confusion. "It's not Nico, it really is the demigod he and Will went to pick up."

"Are you sure?" Camlo asked.

"I can't make up something like this, Cam." Angelique said. "I can prove it when we meet the demigod they went to get. If I'm right, her name is Alex."

"I'll take your word for it." Camlo said, genuinely. "Are you ready now?"

"Yeah, lets go." Angelique said.

They took off on Opal and Blackjack, heading towards Hollywood. It didn't take long since they had stopped fairly close and flying sure took less time than walking. The bright side was that her leg stopped throbbing, the downside was that Camlo and Lillyan weren't acting right and they had less than two weeks to find the Lyre. They had nothing to go on, nothing to help them, and they still had a lot of ground to cover. It kind of annoyed Angelique.

"Lil said she was going to wait for us by the Hollywood sign." Camlo shouted as they reached the city. "There it is!" He said a minute later. He pointed the the huge "HOLLYWOOD" sign on a hill. Angelique could barely make out a figure next to the _H_.

"You know, this is kind of illegal." Angelique shouted.

"Who cares? We're demigods!" Camlo shouted back as they landed next to Lillyan.

"Took you guys long enough." Lillyan said with crossed arms as they dismounted the Pegasi. "I covered half of Hollywood and nothing! Came across another pack of Hellhounds- gods, they just would not quit!" Well, it sure seemed like she was back to normal again. Angelique didn't want to ask because, well, she could get mad again.

"Then what are we going to do? We need to find that lyre or we're all dead!" Camlo said.

"It's only the first few days-"

"Which is basically a fourth of our time! We have a week and a half, sunshine!" Lillyan interrupted.

"I get that!" Angelique shouted. "I get that we only have a week and a half left while we have so much ground to cover! We _just_ got started, Lilly!"

"Then what do we do?" Lillyan said a little bit more calm.

"I- I don't know." Angelique said. "But I think it's a good idea to review the prophecy- I actually found out some information last night that might be useful." Angelique had been thinking about it since they left that morning. They weren't going to get anywhere without at least trying to decipher the prophecy.

"That sounds like a plan."Camlo said. "So, we've already established that we need to go west- done that. It didn't really help."

Angelique told them both about the dream she had last night and how _the child of ghosts _in the prophecy might not be Nico di Angelo. Lillyan nodded, showing she understood what she was talking about. Camlo still didn't seem convinced, but Angelique just guessed he needed more proof than a dream.

"So, we got a few things down, at least the gist of it." Lillyan said.

"_Play the song_, do you think that has anything to do with the pan flute?" Angelique asked as she grabbed the instrument Will had given her.

"Well, Apollo did give it to you and said it would help, right?" Lillyan said.

"Will gave it to me." Angelique argued.

"Whatever, sunshine! Apollo gave it to him to give to you, so it has to be!" Lillyan said pointing to the flute.

"But what song?" Camlo asked. That was the question, what song are they supposed to play?

They all sat down, hands on their chins, all in thought mode, well, up until their ADHD kicked in. Angelique couldn't think at all, she couldn't focus. _Play the song, find what your friend took…_ That was the other thing, Angelique knew it wasn't Lillyan who took the Lyre, she couldn't have, so who was it? Great, she went off topic again.

"Ugh, I can't think straight…" Lillyan confessed. She got up and started pacing.

"_Play the song, find what your friend took. The muses to guide_-" Angelique stopped and jolted up. "The muses!" That was it! They needed to call on the muses!

"The muses?" Camlo questioned. He got off the ground as well.

Lillyan stopped pacing and faced the two. "Angelique, you are a genius!" She exclaimed. "We need to contact the muses!"

"But how are we going to do that?" Camlo asked.

Gods dang it, Camlo just had to ask the important questions again.


	6. Chapter 6

Hi! Another Chapter is here! In this chapter, we're in Lillyan's POV and there's a lot of wasting time. Eventually the three demigods decide to go to Des Moines, Iowa where Nico and Will are, and guess who they meet up with! It's getting closer and closer to the deadline and they aren't any closer to finding Apollo's Lyre. They're starting to wonder if they'll find it in time. Will they find it, or will a war between gods start? Let's find out!

I don't own any of Rick Riordan's Characters, just Lillyan, Camlo, Angelique, Matt, Alex, and Mandy. Make sure to review please!

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><p>VI<p>

LILLYAN

They tried everything- they prayed, they got on their knees and begged, they even played that _stupid_ pan flute to try and see if they would come down and tell them they _sucked_, but there was no use. They had no way of getting those nine stupid muses up on Olympus to help them and they wasted an entire _day and a half_ just to try. It frustrated Lillyan.

"_I give up!_" Lillyan exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air and sitting on a park bench. "We don't know how to get them to help us."

"They have to, Lilly! It's in the prophecy!" Angelique argued. Lillyan hated when she argued with her, especially when she was right.

"Well, maybe they'll feel bad for us and come down on their own." Camlo suggested.

"That would be just all hunky-dorey if we didn't just lose a valuable day to search for that Lyre!" Lillyan shouted. "I mean, come on! We don't have a lot of time!"

"You've said that, like, ten times now, Lil." Camlo said, rubbing his forehead.

"Isn't there anything else we can try?" Angelique asked, probably more to herself than to Lillyan and Camlo. Lillyan noticed a lot of Angelique's tendencies and speaking her mind was one of them, right next to the use of the word "whatever".

"I say we start looking for the Lyre again, if we keep wasting time like this, we're never going to find it and- BAM- instant war between the gods." Lillyan said getting back up off the park bench.

"But where?" Camlo asked, taking his hand off his forehead.

"Maybe we're looking too far west, for all we know, it could be in Iowa!" Lillyan suggested. "I mean, Angelique did say that the demigod that di Angelo and Solace went to get might actually be the child of ghosts from the prophecy, so why couldn't it be there? They were sent to Iowa to find her."

"But where are we supposed to look there? We barely know the place!" Angelique said as she crossed her arms.

"You might not, but Cam does." Lillyan said, looking at Camlo. His head perked up.

"Who, me?" Camlo asked pointing to himself. He looked confused. Lillyan gave him a look that said _don't be stupid, pretty boy!_

"Yes, you!" Lillyan said. "You're the only one I know that knows the Iowa area as well as you."

Camlo fell silent for a moment. He couldn't lie now. Lillyan had known him for three years, she knew he had run away from there. He would know where to look.

"Yeah, I guess I do, don't I?" Camlo said, finally. "I'd say we should look in Des Moines. It's probably where they were, I mean, if not, we can look in Iowa City."

"Alright, pretty boy, lets head for Des Moines." Lillyan said as she kicked her heels.

The three demigods took off, on their way to the capital city of Iowa.

"It'll take the rest of the day to get there- maybe we'll see Nico and Will, if they're still there." Camlo said on the back of Opal, the stupid Pegasus that hated Lillyan's guts. "Of course that's on the off chance they stayed in Iowa, which is highly unlikely, but there's still a chance." He added with a shrug.

Lillyan rolled her eyes. "Just shut up, Cam." She said. "We have more important things to think about, like, you know, the _Lyre?_"

"I'm just saying, maybe they can help us." Camlo said.

"How? its not like di Angelo can lead us to where this magical instrument is!" Lillyan said sarcastically.

"Hey, you're the one who said we should go to Iowa to search for the Lyre in question." Camlo argued. Gods, she hated it when he was right.

"I didn't say we needed to find _them_, I said maybe we'll find the Lyre there!" Lillyan argued back. Good one, Lilly; that'll tell him.

"Would you two stop fighting? We don't have time-!" Angelique stopped talking, staring straight behind herself.

"We know we don't have-!" Lillyan stopped as well, she looked behind them, seeing three dots in the sky, _heading towards them_.

Camlo looked at Lillyan then in the same direction. His eyes widened at the sight. "What is that?" He asked confused.

"Lillyan?" Angelique asked. "You're the monster expert here."

"Oh, my gods... " Lillyan said, suddenly realizing what those three little dots were as they got closer and closer, picking up speed. "They're the Kindly Ones!" She screamed. She pushed forward, trying to out fly them. Camlo and Angelique seemed to have the same idea as Lillyan heard the two Pegasi' wings flap frantically.

It was no use. The Kindly Ones kept gaining speed, and, before she knew it, there was a winged monster flying right next to her. Lillyan recognized her as Alecto. She grabbed one of her bronze daggers and slashed at it. The Kindly One dodged her attack and thrashed her body into hers, but before it could get away, Lillyan used her dagger to stab her in the gut- if she had a gut, she really didn't know.

She pulled out the dagger as Alecto turned to dust. She turned around as she saw Camlo slashing at the Kindly One named Tisiphone who was attacking him while she backed away every time _Loveless_'s blade came even close to contact with the hag's wrinkly skin. Angelique, on the other hand, was absolutely defenseless. Megaera, the only Kindly one left, was too close and she wouldn't have time to draw her bow; instead, she was kicking her foot at her trying to at least keep her away from Blackjack, the one Pegasus Lillyan actually liked.

Lillyan quickly went to Angelique's aid, as Camlo was able to handle himself. Suddenly, Megaera's claws slashed at Blackjack's flank, the winged horse whinnying in distress. Angelique started descending with Blackjack while Lillyan threw her dagger at the Kindly One, hitting between her eyes as she turned her head.

"Maia!" Lillyan shouted. Her dagger flew back to her and she descended, hoping that Angelique and Blackjack weren't too badly hurt, or, even worse, dead. Shortly after, she heard the screech of a Kindly One, and then, before she knew it, Camlo and Opal zoomed past her, heading toward where Angelique and her ride had landed.

There he went again, off to woo the pretty new demigod. Camlo had a bad habit of thinking he's in love only to shortly realize those feelings weren't real; Lillyan hoped that Angelique didn't fall for his tricks like she had.

Lillyan landed next to the black Pegasus and Angelique who was tending to the gash in it's flank.

"You guys okay?" Lillyan asked concerned. She slipped her dagger into it's holster on her belt and examined Angelique. There were no noticeable injuries on her, but Blackjack was a different story.

Angelique had just finished cleaning Blackjack's injury and had started dressing it.

"Is Blackjack okay?" Camlo asked, sitting on his knees next to Angelique.

"Yeah, he'll be fine." Angelique said, stroking the black Pegasus. "Isn't that right?" She looked at Blackjack's head. He whinnied in response.

"How long are we going to be stranded here?" Camlo asked as he looked around at where they landed. They were in a forest; the terrain was flat and it was getting dark. They had to be in Iowa, they just had to be.

"Hey!" Lillyan heard a familiar voice shout. She turned around to see a familiar dark haired son of Hades and blond son of Apollo, along with a young girl with the same dark hair as the other demigod.

"Guys, look! It's Nico and Will!" Lillyan said pointing to them.

Angelique turned her head to see her half brother and Nico di Angelo running towards them. She got up and waved them down.

"Nico! Will!" She shouted. "Didn't think you guys would still be in the state!" she added as they got closer.

"Well, we ran into some trouble." Will said, glaring at Nico.

"Did it happen to be a Hydra?" Angelique asked. Will looked surprised.

"Yeah… How did…?"

"I had a dream about it." Angelique explained.

"Oh, that's why." Will said, nodding in understanding.

"So what's going on?" Nico asked.

Angelique looked over to Blackjack who was currently laying on his side breathing out his nose. "We were attacked by- Kindly Ones, you said?" Angelique said looking at Lillyan. She nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, your dad's little helpers went after us." Lillyan said a little angry. "Have any idea why, 'ambassador of Pluto'?"

"Dunno, there could be a million reasons why my dad would have done that- one of them being…" Nico trailed off as he turned his head to the girl, ignoring Lillyan's teasing.

"Are you saying that Hades thought that one of my half sisters and her friends were threats to his _little girl?_" Will Solace said defensively. "You have to be kidding, Nico!"

"That's not what I'm saying Solace!" Nico said. "I'm saying that maybe my dad sent them to keep an eye on her, and Alecto and her companions must have thought they were threats or something." Nico looked at Blackjack, still on the ground with a dressed injury. "Is that Blackjack?" He asked pointing to the black Pegasus.

"Yeah, one of them clawed him. He should be fine." Angelique said.

"Did you treat him, Angelique?" Will asked. She nodded. "Well, expect some good things being said to Percy Jackson." He said, humorously. Angelique seemed confused.

"Blackjack considers Percy as his boss." Lillyan told her. "You saved his life, that means a lot to him and Percy Jackson."

"So I've been riding Percy's Pegasus?" She asked.

"No, Blackjack really isn't anybody's; he likes all demigods, he just has close ties with Percy, since he saved him from this Yacht and, you know, Poseidon kind of made Horses?" Nico said.

"You sure know a lot about Poseidon," Camlo said with a grin.

"Loveridge, I am going to ask you to shut up before I drop you into a pit of Zombies." Nico said pointing his Stygian Iron sword at Camlo. The son of Aphrodite put up his hands in surrender.

"Okay, lets not do something stupid, alright?" Angelique said crossing her arms. She was obviously annoyed.

"I thought you were over him?" Will asked crossing his arms giving Nico that one look he always gave that meant _I will curse you to rhyme in couplets if you say the wrong thing._

Nico let his sword drop to his side as he looked over to Will. "I am, Will." He said as calmly as he could, seemingly afraid he might actually get cursed to Rhyme in Couplets. Gods, they were such a couple. It actually was kind of adorable.

"Alright, lover boys, are you going to introduce us to the supposed new child of Hades or what?" Lillyan said gesturing to the girl behind them.


	7. Chapter 7

Hi again! Another chapter! We're still in Lillyan's POV as we meet Alex McConner, another child of Hades!

In this chapter, we're watching the gang just talking with Nico di Angelo and Will Solace about what they're going to need to do to find the stolen Lyre. We also discover why Lillyan called Nico "Ambassador of Pluto" when that's a Roman thing. This chapter is a bit mellow and filled with Solangelo fluff! They are so adorable I'm sorry. I'm such a Solangelo shipper. But in the morning, guess who Iris messages Nico? Let's find out!

I don't own any of Rick Riordan's characters as they are his and not mine, however I do own Alex, Angelique, Camlo, Lillyan, Matt, and Mindy.

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><p>VII<p>

LILLYAN

"So, Alex McConner?" Angelique asked, trying to remember the name. That was another thing she tended to do; she'd say the first and last name of a person she just met over and over to get their name right.

Alex nodded, her hands on her knees. She looked tense; her nerves seemed to get the better of her. Nico sat beside her on a log, arms resting on the handle of his Stygian Iron sword stuck in the dirt. Will sat across from him while Angelique sat next to him on another log while Lillyan and Camlo sat on another log between the two other logs, Lillyan sitting next to Angelique and Camlo sitting next to Alex. They sat around a campfire, the darkness of the night surrounding them.

"She's twelve, not much younger than you guys." Nico said. "It seems as if Hades has broken the 'no kids from the eldest gods' rule." He added.

"So she was actually born twelve years ago, and not out of her own time?" Lillyan said. Nico looked at her. She covered her mouth "Sorry, I didn't-!"

"Don't worry about it, I'm over it." Nico said, adjusting his legs. "But yeah, she's like Percy." Will gave him the same look he gave him before. "Who I am _definitely_ over, by the way." He added, looking at Will.

"Okay, so I don't usually pry, but I just gotta know," Angelique began, "are you guys dating?" Holy Hera, she sure liked to ask that question.

Nico nodded. "Yeah, we're dating. Me and Will. Dating-" Will gave him a look as if he were saying _are you sure you love me, though?_ "-How many times do I have to say it? I'm over Perseus Jackson, Will! I'm with you, not him, _I-_!" He paused for a second, "-I love you, Will." He said quietly. He was embarrassed about the PDA, but Lillyan guessed he kind of had to say it.

"Say it louder," Will said, a smirk forming on his face.

"I love you, Will, not Percy, okay?" Nico said, his face turning red. "Can you not be mad at me now? Please?"

Lillyan had seen it so many times before between them. Whenever they fought, Will Solace would get Nico di Angelo to say "I love you" before they made up. It was so adorable, Lillyan could almost vomit- Well, maybe not vomit, but whatever.

"You know I can't stay mad at you and that adorable, pale face." Will said, teasing him. Nico couldn't help but crack a smile.

"Oh man, you guys are adorable." Angelique said, getting all giddy about the romance. Lillyan wondered why she wasn't a kid of Aphrodite, or even Eros for that matter. She seemed all about romantic relationships.

"Oh, you think so?" Will said with a laugh. "Don't worry, Angelique, you'll find that one guy- or girl, I mean, I don't know how you roll, but you get the point." He said hugging her from the side.

"Thanks, Will. That makes me feel _so_ much better." Angelique said, jokingly.

Opal whinnied in distress, continually pulling at his reins trying to get away.

"Yeah, don't like your smell either," Nico said waving his hand at the Pegasus. "Stupid winged horse…" He muttered, pulling his sword out and stabbing it back in the earth. He seemed annoyed. "So how long do you guys have now?"

"A little more than, like, a week." Lillyan said, cleaning off the dagger she had used on the Kindly Ones. "We still don't know where to look."

"We were hoping we'd find the Lyre here in Iowa, but it seems like that's not going to happen." Camlo said, fiddling with his ring. He was nervous, and Lillyan knew it. He always got nervous just at the mention of Iowa, it was doubly so when they were actually _there_. "We're probably just wasting our time…" He muttered, staring at the dirt.

"Well, have you tried thinking about the prophecy you got? What is it, anyway?" Nico asked.

Lillyan recited the prophecy to the two veteran demigods. "We've established that we need to go west of Camp, that doesn't help; we've recognized that we need to play a song, we don't know what it is; we know the muses are probably going to tell us what we're doing, but we don't know how to contact them; and we think the child of ghosts is Alex." Lillyan said. Gods, that was a mouth full. "Of course, it could be you, but it's less likely than it being Alex."

"Well, I'm the Ghost King, that's not the same as child of ghosts. That could be any child of Hades or even Pluto, for that matter, but I highly doubt this has to do with Hazel." Nico said. "It probably is Alex, if we go by that logic."

"Ugh, all this thinking is making my head hurt." Lillyan whined as she slumped over and put her face in her hands.

"Why are you looking for a Lyre?" Alex asked quietly. Everyone looked at her surprised. Did she just talk for the first time?

"Um, a child of Hermes stole Apollo's Lyre." Angelique explained, still astonished that Alex talked. "We need to get it back or else Apollo is going to start a war with Hermes."

"I-I had a dream once about someone hiding a string instrument. I thought it was a harp, but I guess it was too small to be one…" Alex continued quietly. "It was a girl around my age and she hid it somewhere in Nevada, I think… Or was it Arizona? I-I don't know, but does that help?"

"That does, actually." Camlo said.

"Was the girl blonde?" Lillyan asked. She had to know that she was innocent. She was innocent. _Innocent._

"N-no, she was a redhead." Alex said. "Why?"

"Because I've been accused of stealing the Lyre, which I _didn't_." Lillyan said with confidence. Now she knew it wasn't herself. Now all they had to do was find the Lyre in the Arizona or Nevada area and she was home free!

"We should go to bed, it's getting late." Will said, getting off the log.

"I'll put out the fire," Nico said as he got up as well.

Lillyan put her dagger away on her belt and got up. She stretched and got into the tent on the left. She then took off her backpack and set it in the right-hand corner; she opened it up to get her sleeping bag and set it in the middle. That was a tendency of hers; Lillyan needed to be in the middle or she'd never get any sleep. The walls of the tent bugged her.

She peeked outside the tent as Alex and Angelique entered the Tent. Camlo seemed to have already entered the boys' tent as Nico and Will stood outside holding hands with their heads against each other. She could barely hear them mutter their _I love you_'s to each other right before their lips made contact. Ugh, they were so adorable, it made Lillyan sick to her stomach. She retreated back into the tent and sat down on her sleeping bag.

She took out her pocket watch from her pocket. It was the watch her dad gave her the one time she got to meet him on a quest with Camlo and Jake. It was also the first time either of her parents said they loved her- her mom never actually saying it. He told her that it wasn't just a time-teller, it was a navigator, a moon chart, it was so much more than just a clock. It was also the time he gave her her winged shoes. They weren't ordinary either. Instead of saying _Maia_ to make them fly, she just had to kick her heels and the wings just fluttered open; it let her use the daggers she got when she came to Camp Half-blood, the ones that she needed to say _Maia_ to get them back so she didn't lose them. It was pretty handy.

She opened the pocket watch to see the spinning hands on the different dials and circles. Around the edge was the moon chart, currently on one of the bigger moons indicated by the arrow that pointed to the current moon. It told her that she was facing west, back to the way they needed to go. She closed the watch, laid down, and closed her eyes.

Her dream was a normal demigod dream, of course, one of those hinting dreams or whatever it was they called them. She honestly didn't care.

She was running away from a couple of Hellhounds, back when she was running away from home. It was just before Nico and Will found her, killing them off. They hadn't gotten there yet; it must have been when the Hellhounds had started going after her. She had ran a long time, but things didn't seem right. She wasn't in a forest, she was between two walls of rock. Before she knew it, she was hearing a hum and there was a man a few feet away. He was handsome with a surfer bod and- was that Apollo?

She would never know because she woke up before she got any closer.

"Lilly?" She heard Angelique say. Lillyan sighed.

"Yeah, sunshine?" She said rubbing the left side of her face, still half asleep.

"Why did you call Nico 'Ambassador of Pluto'? Isn't that a Roman thing?" Angelique asked. Lillyan looked at her.

"I went to Camp Jupiter once with di Angelo. I kept begging him to take me on one of his visits so I could meet Percy Jackson," She said as she sat up. "I heard so many people call him 'Ambassador of Pluto' that I tease him about it all the time ever since."

"What was Camp Jupiter like?" She asked.

"It was like a military camp- lots of barracks' and weaponry…" Lillyan explained. "The place I visited to visit Percy was New Rome, which is like this safe haven for demigods. Di Angelo told me there were ghosts just wandering around there, I didn't believe him, but boy was I wrong."

"So did you actually get to meet Percy Jackson?" She asked.

"Gods, you are just full of questions today, sunshine!" Lillyan teased. "Yeah, I did, actually. I was so excited, he's my idol, you know?"

"Yeah, I know," Angelique said with a grin.

"I also got to meet Annabeth Chase, she made me think of-!"

"Maeng!" Nico's voice shouted. It wasn't angry, but it was loud.

"Hey! I'm telling a story here, di Angelo!" Lillyan joked.

"Well, does that really matter? I got an Iris message from someone that wants to talk to you, Angelique!" Nico shouted.

The two girls peeked out the tent, trying to see what the commotion was about, but no one was in front of the tents. They got out and looked to both sides where, eventually, they saw Nico di Angelo, Will Solace, Alex McConner, and Camlo Loveridge standing in front of an image of Lillyan's idol in an Iris message.

"Oh, my gods, it's Percy Jackson!" Lillyan squeaked out, her voice cracking.

"Hey there, Lilly! Is that Angelique next to you?" He said, pointing to the daughter of Apollo.


	8. Chapter 8

HI! I'm kinda late on this one, but another chapter!

It's Angelique's POV again and we finally figure out the big question- what the heck do they need to do to get the muses? Of course, it's not Percy who says it but, of course, ANNABETH (Because Annabeth is a badass). So, we got a week and also a more definite area to look! I wonder if they'll get stuck... LETS FIND OUT! :D

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><p>VIII<p>

ANGELIQUE

"How do you know my name?" Angelique asked, confused. She knew his name, of course; she couldn't go around Camp Half-blood without hearing his name, but for him to know her name, now that was just crazy.

"Well, Nico just told me. I called him, wondering how he was doing on his rescue mission, and he starts talking about the new great prophecy and you! How crazy is that?" Percy said with enthusiasm. "He said you had a problem, and even though I probably won't be any help at all, I could try."

"He did go to find the lightning bolt in the same kind of situation," Will told her. That was a good point.

Angelique recited the prophecy and told Percy about what they figured each part of it meant. He listened intently, well as much as a person with ADHD could.

"So, Alex is who you're assuming is the child of ghosts, right? And you don't know how to contact the muses?" Percy said out loud. He tapped his chin. "Annabeth!" He shouted for his girlfriend.

"Yeah, seaweed brain?" a girl's voice shouted. That must have been Annabeth.

"Do you know how to summon the muses?" Percy asked her.

"What do you need the muses for?"

"Angelique needs to know!"

"Who in Hades is Angelique?!"

"This Camper at Camp Half-blood!"

"I thought you were calling Nico?"

"I was!" Percy shouted, a tiny bit annoyed. "Angelique, Lilly and Cam met up with him and Will on a quest!"

"What do they need the muses for?"

"They need to find Apollo's Lyre! They say the muses are supposed to guide them or something!"

"Oh, okay. I suppose you could play a Hymn to Apollo or maybe your best bet is the Hymn to the Muses!" Annabeth explained.

"Thanks, wise girl!"

"No problem, seaweed brain!"

"They have a weird relationship," Angelique pointed out to Will.

"Eh, not as weird as mine and Nico's," Will said to her.

"Good point."

"So yeah, I hope you heard that," Percy said pointing his thumb to his left.

"Yeah, we heard it," Lillyan said.

"I gotta go now, Annabeth and I are going on a date! Later, Nico!" Percy said, waving his hand.

"Later, Jackson," Nico said before he cut off the Iris message. He turned to Will, who gave him that look again he gave earlier. "Love you!" Nico said nervously with a smile.

They were so adorable, Angelique could barely hold back her grin. She wondered about the entire story on their relationship; however, that was a question to be asked after they found the Lyre, not in the middle of their search.

"So, I guess we're headed towards Nevada and Arizona?" Camlo asked.

"Well, it's out best bet right now, isn't it?" Lillyan pointed out.

"What about Blackjack? We can't leave him here," Angelique said, pointing to the black Pegasus.

"We'll take him back-" Will stopped when he put up his hands. "Gods, what in Hades is wrong with you?" Angelique looked in the brush. There was a teenage girl with short black hair and a silver tiara-looking thing around her head. She was pointing a bow and arrow at Will.

"Who is that?" Angelique asked. Lillyan glared at the girl in the brush.

"My name is Thalia Grace, lady Artemis' Lieutenant," She said, still aiming at Will. "I'm here to get the two demigod girls with you." She looked at Alex and Angelique. "Three if you count the daughter of Hermes."

"Whoa, what?" Angelique asked, concerned.

"First off, Angelique is on a quest, second- You're too late, Alex already agreed to come back to Camp Half-blood with _us,_" Nico said defensively. "And third, Thornbrush already said no."

"We can change her mind, di Angelo- all of their minds," Thalia said, now pointing her bow at Nico. He didn't seem scared, he looked more angry than anything.

"Can you put the bows down? Seriously, Grace, Alex is scared enough as it is!" Lillyan said, annoyed. She pointed to the daughter of Hades who was hiding behind her half-brother.

"You can still join too, if you want, Lillyan," Thalia said in all seriousness.

"_It's Lilly or Lil_!" Lillyan shouted. "And no, I don't want to join you! I said that six years ago!"

"I'm just saying, you could avoid a lot of heartbreak if you join the Hunt," Thalia said, no longer pointing a drawn bow at any of the boys.

"I'll take my chances," Lillyan said through gritted teeth.

"Well, maybe not you; Alex, was it? It's your choice, you can go with them to Camp Half-blood, or with us and join the Hunters of Artemis," Thalia said to the daughter of Hades.

Alex was quiet for a while. It wasn't really a surprise, she was already quiet, but she was thinking. Angelique thought as well. Was it so bad to be a Hunter of Artemis? It seemed cool; Angelique would fit right in, she could shoot well. Was there a catch? What was different from being a Camper at Camp Half-blood?

"Artemis swore off men, right?" Alex said, still behind Nico. "I- I honestly would rather stay with Nico," she said quietly as she fiddled with her hands.

"You heard her answer, now go back to whatever you Huntress' do," Nico said, his voice angry. Thalia narrowed her eyes at him.

"Fine," Thalia said firmly. "But if you change your mind, Alex, or Angelique, or even _Lilly_, just call us up." She turned and walked away. A few other girls who were hiding in the brush followed, bows at their backs. "Later, King of Ghosts," she shouted as she walked away with the rest of the Hunters.

"I thought you were on good terms with Grace?" Camlo said.

"We are, I just didn't like how she was pointing her bow at my boyfriend," Nico said, still a little angry.

"Ah, that makes sense," Camlo said. "So, are we going or not?"

"What about Blackjack though?" Angelique repeated. "And who's Thornbrush?"

"That's me, sunshine," Lillyan said, putting her hand up.

"Like I was saying before," Will began again, "we'll look after Blackjack; you guys go find that Lyre."

"Thanks, Will." Angelique said. She turned to Camlo and Lillyan. "Let's go."

Camlo and Angelique mounted Opal. She almost forgot how much this Pegasus hated her. The moment she had touched him, he snorted as if to say something insulting.

"Opal, quit it!" Camlo scolded the winged horse. "Angelique is a nice demigod!"

"Oh, so that Pegasus doesn't like you either, huh?" Nico said, his hands in his pockets. "Wonder why."

"We could ask Percy, but that's for after you get the Lyre," Will said, now standing next to Nico. "Now, go finish your quest."

"Be safe," Alex said quietly.

"Thanks, Alex; we'll see you back at camp!" Angelique said.

"Last one to Nevada gets to put up the tents!" Lillyan said right before she kicked her heels and took off.

"Oh, you sneaky child of Hermes!" Camlo shouted as he and Angelique took off on Opal.

They headed in the direction of the Nevada-Arizona border. Maybe it was there, since Alex couldn't decide if it was one or the other.

"Where should we look? In which city?" Lillyan asked, flying next to Camlo and Angelique after a while. They were almost to Nevada.

"I thought we were racing?" Angelique asked with a laugh.

"We were, but I don't really feel like it anymore!" Lillyan shouted, humor in her voice. "So where, sunshine?"

"I say Las Vegas, I think it's a good place to start," Angelique suggested.

"It's a start," Camlo said. "That's good."

"Didn't Percy, Annabeth and Grover go there when they went on their quest to find the Lightning bolt?" Lillyan asked.

"Is that a bad thing?" Angelique asked.

"I… I don't know," Lillyan muttered. "I feel like something went wrong there."

"Well, everything goes wrong when you're a demigod," Camlo said.

"We don't have time for gut feelings, we gotta take this chance," Angelique reminded them. "We've already wasted enough time."

"Alright, sunshine, whatever you say," Lillyan said.

"There it is!" Camlo said, pointing ahead. "Las Vegas! It's so bright!"

"Viva Las Vegas," Angelique said, mentioning the song of the very same name. "We search high and low- just like we did Los Angeles and Hollywood."

"Right; split up?" Lillyan asked. "I search high, you guys search low?"

"Sounds like a plan- Angelique?" Camlo said, turning his head towards the daughter of Apollo.

"Let's do it," Angelique said as they descended.

They landed just outside the city, Camlo leading Opal off to tie him to a tree so he wouldn't fly away. They walked the rest of the way to the city. It was getting late and the lights of Las Vegas were just as bright as Angelique remembered it. Did she mention that she's been to Las Vegas? No? Well, she has.

It was with her mom, _before_ her mom met her stepdad. That jerk. Anyway, She had a fashion show one year and her mom didn't want her baby to be home alone, so she took Angelique with her and it was fantastic. It was the first time that she had seen her mother's designs and they just took her breath away. The models were nice, the dresses were amazing, and it was just the best day ever. That week they had stayed with her grandma who lived in Vegas. She wondered if her Grandma would let them stay if it got too late- if Angelique could even remember where she lived. She missed her Halmoni (that's Korean for grandma, by the way).

"So where do we start?" Lillyan asked Angelique.

"How about there?" Camlo asked, pointing to a Hotel and Casino.

"Why there?" Lillyan asked, looking at it.

"Because there are _empousai_ right behind us." Camlo whispered, pointing his thumb behind him.


End file.
